The steady stream of immigration from the British Isles and Germany that had
begun in the 1740s turned into a veritable "gusher" following the
expulsion of the French from North America and the end of Pontiac's War. The
massive flow of Europeans, mostly poor and looking for cheap land, turned the
situation on the Indian Boundaries from difficult to unmanageable. Everywhere
there were people, most of whom cared little for the legality of what they were
doing, crossing over onto Indian land to stake out farms; making "market
hunting expeditions deep into the tribal hunting grounds; and setting themselves
up in business to trade with the Indians, often without proper licenses and
willing to use rum and the issuance of excessive credit to cheat the Indians out
of their skins and their lands.

With a "frontier to police that ran from Virginia down to the Floridas,
across to the Mississippi, up to the Ohio River and back to Virginia, Stuart
quickly realized that he was going to be unable to manage Indian Affairs by
himself and quickly began to expand the staffing of the Southern Indian
Department during this period. Beginning in 1766 he appointed Charles Stuart,
his cousin, Deputy Superintendent and stationed him in Mobile. The same year he
appointed John McIntosh as Commissary to the Chickasaws, Roderick McIntosh as
Commissary to the Lower Creeks, John Doig as Commissary of Stores in Pensacola
and Dugald Campbell as Commissary of Stores in Mobile. Rene Roi was also hired
as an interpreter for Charles Stuart. In 1768 he appointed Alexander Cameron a
long-time trader among the Cherokee as Deputy Superintendent to the Cherokee, In
1770 John Thomas was appointed as Deputy Superintendent to the Small Tribes
along the Mississippi and in 1772 David Taitt was appointed as Commissary to the
Upper Creeks. Finally, in 1775, Farquhar Bethune was appointed Commissary to the
Choctaws and Henry Stuart (John Stuart's brother) was appointed as a Special
Agent for the Department. In 1778 Henry was elevated to the post of Deputy
Superintendent. In addition the Department during this time began hiring many
interpreters as well as contracting blacksmiths, teamsters, porters, etc as
needed to provide for the tribes.

Over this ten year period Stuart and his Deputies were in almost constant
motion mediating trade disputes, negotiating the punishment of criminals on both
sides, and working to reestablish the boundaries between white settlements and
the Native Lands. This led to formal Congresses with the various Indian Nations
at Hard Labor, SC in May 1766 and again in October 1768; Lochaber, SC in October
1770; Pensacola, West Florida in October 1771, Mobile, West Florida in January
1772; and Augusta, SC in June 1773. In addition, Indian Department Officials
were in almost constant consultation with the Royal Governors of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, East Florida and West Florida as well as the
British Commander in Chief for North America Lord Howe and the Board of Trade
back on London.

Some aspects of Indian Affairs in the southern district after 1768 were of
international importance. From 1768 until the conquest of West Florida by the
Spanish during the American Revolution the Spanish carried on intrigues among
the southern tribes, both from Havana and New Orleans. These intrigues raised
concerns among English officials and Stuart was ordered to investigate them. In
1769 Escotchabie, who was friendlier to the Spanish than any other Creek Chief,
told Stuart that a conference between the Spanish and the entire Creek nation
was planned for September that year and was to be held at the mouth of the
Apalachicola River. Stuart was so greatly upset by this report that he ordered
Charles Stuart to the spot to prevent the meeting and arranged for a British
warship to patrol the coast throughout the month of September. Although the
search for Spanish envoy's proved fruitless, English officials continued to be
apprehensive of Spanish activities in the Lower Creek towns, especially after
news of the Falkland Islands quarrel reached America.

Another problem during this period was the activities of the Delaware and
Shawnee among the southern tribes. After 1768 it was necessary for the English
to counter the efforts of the Shawnees and Delawares to form a hostile Indian
confederacy, not only in the Cherokee country, but also in the Creek and Choctaw
nations. Such an alliance could never come about, as far as the Choctaws and
Creeks were concerned, a long as these tribes continued at war with each other,
although continual rumors of the plotting of the Shawnees and Delawares caused
much uneasiness in the minds of Stuart, Gage and other British officials. For a
time in 1772 there was real danger that the alliance might be formed, as a
result of an unfortunate incident that occurred at Kaskaskia between a party of
Chickasaws and a detachment of British troops at that place in which the
Chickasaws, led by Paya Mingo Euluxy, lost two warriors and the chief himself
was wounded. Returning home, Paya Mingo Euluxy tried to persuade his people to
drive out their traders and to undertake the mediation of the Choctaw-Creek
conflict. He hoped to bring the Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws into an
alliance with the Shawnees and Delawares. Success in this project might have
brought on a great Indian war in America, but Paya Mattaha and Mingo Ouma
refused to support the scheme, and the danger passed.

Perhaps the greatest problems faced by the Indian Department during this
period were those resulting from the conflicting interests of the Cherokees and
of the whites on the Virginia frontier. In no southern colony before the War of
Independence were the frontiersmen more aggressive and less restrained by
authority. They became so obnoxious that the southern Indians came to apply the
term "Virginian" to any person who encroached on their lands along the
entire southeastern frontier. While many of the pioneers may have been
democratic, hardy, independent spirits, others were shiftless debtors who fled
to the wilderness to evade court action. The Virginians and their fellows from
the backwoods of North Carolina killed large quantities of game on hunting
grounds that the Cherokees looked upon as their own, causing the Cherokees at
length to adopt the policy of depriving such hunters of their weapons and their
spoils. Unfortunately for the cause of peace on the frontier, many of these
backwoodsmen also acted on the principle that "the only good Indian was a
dead Indian". The Cherokees retaliated, eye for eye and tooth for tooth.

As more and more frontiersmen moved westward along the Holston River and over
the Cumberlands into Kentucky the Cherokees may have slaughtered many hunters
and settlers whose fate was never known, but reports of slayings by the
Cherokees came occasionally to he Indian Department. In 1772 a war party from
that nation slew seven Virginians and a Negro, offering the unlikely excuse that
they thought their victims were Frenchmen. Stuart was convinced that the
Cherokees involved should be punished, but at a time when relations with the
Creeks were severely strained he was unable to demand the execution of the
culprits because of similar deeds on the part of the Virginians and because of
the need to preserve peace with the Cherokees. In 1773 an attack by the
Cherokees on another group of Virginians resulted in several casualties, among
them James Boone, son of Daniel Boone, and Stuart was able eventually to secure
the execution of only one of the aggressors.

The most serious cause of dispute between Virginia and the Cherokees arose
however from the last pre-Revolutionary purchase of Cherokee claims in the Ohio
Valley which was made by private speculators. On August 25, 1774 a speculative
combination headed by Judge Richard Henderson of North Carolina and consisting
of Henderson, Nathaniel and Thomas Hart, John Luttrell, John Williams, and
William Johnston met at Hillsborough, NC and formally organized the Louisa
Company, the purpose of which was to either rent or purchase lands from the
Cherokees and to settle upon them. Like many other land speculators of the time,
this group showed an utter lack of respect for the Proclamation of 1763,
colonial statutes, and the Indian boundaries established through the efforts of
the Indian Department. They prepared for quick action.

When Stuart learned that the Henderson crowd had invited the Cherokees to
meet them on the Holston River to negotiate regarding a land grant, he sent
Alexander Cameron to prevent the sale and supplied him with gifts so that the
Cherokees would not sell territory because they lacked goods. Cameron failed to
achieve success in his mission.

In November 1774, Henderson and Nathaniel Hart met several Cherokee chiefs
and secured a preliminary agreement whereby the Cherokees undertook to sell them
all the territory south of the Ohio lying between the mouth of the Kanawha and
the Tennessee River; and Attakullakulla returned with the speculators to North
Carolina to advise them in regards to the sort of supplies that the Cherokees
wanted in payment.. On January 6, 1775, after admission of three additional
members into the company and the formation of new articles of agreement, the
title of the organization was altered to that of Transylvania Company. The
Transylvania Company completed its purchase from the Cherokees at a great
conference at the Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River between March 14 and 17.
The Cherokee sold a magnificent domain stretching from the Ohio and Kentucky
Rivers to the southern edge of the Cumberland watershed. They also granted
Henderson and his associates a strip of territory between the Watauga River and
the Cumberland range, so that settlers traveling from North Carolina would not
be forced to go through Cherokee territory. This was all accomplished from the
price of trade goods reputed to have been valued at £10,000, but that valuation
is somewhat suspect as documents of the period indicate that they all fit inside
of one cabin.

Not all of the Cherokee were pleased with the deal. Attakullakulla's son,
Dragging Canoe had spoken out forcefully against the sale. He rose and said:

"Whole Indian nations have melted away like snowballs in the sun before
the white man's advance. They leave scarcely a name of our people except those
wrongly recorded by their destroyers. Where are the Delawares? They have been
reduced to a mere shadow of their former greatness. We had hoped that the white
men would not be willing to travel beyond the mountains. Now that hope is gone.
They have passed the mountains, and have settled upon Cherokee land. They wish
to have that action sanctioned by treaty. When that is gained, the same
encroaching spirit will lead them upon other land of the Cherokees. New cessions
will be asked. Finally the whole country, which the Cherokees and their fathers
have so long occupied, will be demanded, and the remnant of Ani-Yunwiya, THE
REAL PEOPLE, once so great and formidable, will be compelled to seek refuge in
some distant wilderness. There they will be permitted to stay only a short
while, until they again behold the advancing banners of the same greedy host.
Not being able to point out any further retreat for the miserable Cherokees, the
extinction of the whole race will be proclaimed. Should we not therefore run all
risks, and incur all consequences, rather than submit to further loss of our
country? Such treaties may be alright for men who are too old to hunt or fight.
As for me, I have my young warriors about me. We will have our lands. A-WANINSKI,
I have spoken."

Dragging Canoe's mighty speech had such a strong influence on the chiefs that
they closed the Treaty Council without more talk. Yet, the white men prepared
another huge feast with rum and were able to persuade the Cherokee Chiefs to sit
in another Treaty Council for further discussion of land sale. The land being
sought was the primary hunting lands of the Cherokee. Attakullakulla, Dragging
Canoe's father, spoke in favor of selling the land, as did Raven, who was
jealous of Dragging Canoe's growing power among the young warriors. The deed was
signed. Richard Henderson, being very bold, now that his plan was succeeding and
they had bought such a huge portion of land, sought to secure a safe path to the
new lands. Saying "he did not want to walk over the land of my
brothers", he asked to "buy a road" through Cherokee lands. This
last insult was more than Dragging Canoe could tolerate. He became very angry
and rising from his seat and stomping the ground he spoke saying "We have
given you this, why do you ask for more? You have bought a fair land. When you
have this you have all. There is no more game left between the Watauga and the
Cumberland. There is a cloud hanging over it. You will find its settlement DARK
and BLOODY."

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